238 
TULA. 
chap, of the workmen were purposely sent to England 
j by the late Empress, who neglected no measure 
conducive to the improvement of the manu- 
factory. We asked those who had worked in 
our country, why their wares were so badly 
finished. They replied, they could finish them 
better, but were not able to bestow the neces- 
sary time ; for as every article is the produce of 
the labour of a single person, the high price 
such additional labour must require would never 
be obtained. The best work we saw was in a 
manufactory of barometers, thermometers, and 
mathematical instruments; but here the artificer 
was a German, who had been instructed under 
English masters in Petersburg. The late Empress 
bought up almost all the work which her English 
workmen completed. To encourage them, she 
ordered spectacles by the gross, and afterwards 
distributed them in presents. In her palaces, 
thermometers were placed in every window: 
and, as they were perpetually broken by the 
servants, her workmen, in providing a fresh 
supply, had sufficient demands to keep them 
constantly at work. 
imperial \ letter to one of the principal persons in the 
Arms. Imperial manufactory enabled us to see the whole 
of it. They exhibited to us a splendid collection 
of guns, swords, pistols, &c. designed as 
